When Nightmares Are Just the Beginning
by DetrimentalHabitsPt4
Summary: Is there more to the Kaiba brothers' waking worlds than they'd ever imagined? Some bloodlines never die, even after 6000 years of near extinction...and with this blood comes archaic creatures and a deadly vendetta. Rated T for future chapters. No pairings, and minor OCs.
1. The Nightmares

_**When Nightmares Are Just the Beginning...**_

_**CH:1**_  
_** The Nightmares**_

  
KaibaCorp CEO Seto Kaiba was awoken at midnight by an awful series of terrified screams as they filtered in through his closed bedroom door, and the teen's eyes flew open wide at the sudden, harsh sounds cutting through the established silence. The frightful noises rang in his ears and he knew that by this point, there would be no more sleeping for him tonight.

How many nights had gone over like this? Seven.

Twisting out of bed he left his room and headed down the darkened hall, swearing internally the whole way on habit. It was bad enough that he worked all day, but now he was stressing his hair gray over these nighttime deals, too.

Just a tad roughly, he pushed open the door to another bedroom and stood in the doorframe looking at the small, pale-faced child tangled up in his light blue sheets.

"Seto!" Mokuba whimpered. Despite the imposing figure that his older brother cut in the semi-darkness, he was nonetheless seen as a heralder of comfort in moments like these.

Kaiba strode over to his brother and pulled him out of the grasp of the cloth, setting him on the edge of the bed, before kneeling stiffly in front of him on the thick carpet.

"What was it this time?" He asked in a tired voice. Counting tonight, this was Mokuba's eighth nightmare. At this point though, it didn't really matter if there were days in between the dreams, it was all starting to blur together into one big, tiresome mess.

His brother was shivering violently and tears were forming in his wide gray eyes, his thoughts obviously focused on some distant terror. He started a little as Kaiba spoke, then the tears burst forth in a frightened torrent.

Sighing, the elder shifted his postion so he sat next to the younger and started rubbing his back to comfort him. Gradually, he managed to coax understandable words out of Mokuba.

"It...I don't know...you...you were in it...and...and Marik...the _other_ Marik..." He gasped between sobs. "He had...he had...you were trying...trying to protect me and...and..."

As he let loose a high-pitched wail of anguish he buried his face in Kaiba's shoulder, and Kaiba felt a chill that had nothing to do his usual intolerance for physical contact. Every dream so far had involved some form of drastic violence, whether it was someone being stabbed or struck by lightning. The fact that the someone was always Kaiba didn't make him or Mokuba feel any better about the nightmares. As he tried to come up with a way to calm his brother down, his mind wandered to the first night when Mokuba had fled to Kaiba's room screaming his name.

_..._

_"Seto!" _

_Kaiba lifted his head off his pillow and looked dazedly at the small figure that was Mokuba in his doorway. _

_"What do you want?"He asked a slightly harsh fashion. The clock read 12:47 A.M., for goodness sake! _

_The child gasped as his brother spoke, then collapsed to the floor in a shivering, pajama-clad heap. _

_Alarmed and bewildered at this, Kaiba practically scrambled out of bed and darted to his brother's side. _

_"Mokuba?" The younger responded to this with a wail that made Kaiba shudder inwardly. "What is the matter with you?"He demanded as he grabbed Mokuba's thin shoulders. _

_"Seto, you're alive!" the younger Kaiba's voice was wobbly with terrified relief. _

_Kaiba pulled back, confused. What had his brother just said? _

_Mokuba seemed to sense his reluctance because he started to try and explain what had happened. But whenever he tried, he started crying, and Kaiba couldn't understand him at all. To put it mildly, he couldn't even understand what was never had bad dreams, and on top of that Kaiba wasn't the most alert that he had ever been at nearly an hour past midnight. However, he was awake enough to realize that this was the most upset that he had ever seen Mokuba, even when he was locked up in a cell somewhere._

'_This won't happen again,'he thought as he pulled his brother closer."It's probably just a one night thing."_

_..._

Kaiba had realized just how wrong he was by now. The dreams appeared to be steadily getting worse, with violent death scenes that left Mokuba jumpy and emotional for days on end. Two nights after the first dream, another had occurred, resulting with Mokuba screaming in terror for his brother. Now Kaiba was dealing with more than just his company; he was putting up with this crazy nightmare/waking up at midnight cycle that was making him and the younger irritable and unpredictable.

"D-do you think...think it's s-some sort of s-sign, b-brother?" Mokuba hiccupped as he started to finish crying. Although Kaiba, despite himself, had considered this rather far-fetched possibility as a reality after the fifth night of dreams, he wasn't about to tell Mokuba that. The child was a nervous wreck as it was. He didn't need another terror stacked up in his ten-year old mind.

'_All I can say is that if someone is causing him this misery and fear they're going to dearly regret it.' _He thought before he replied.

"No." The elder made his voice firm."That's impossible. Everything is going to be absolutely fine, Mokuba."

Mokuba relaxed a little at his older brother's words, snuggling up closer to him. Kaiba put a stiff arm around Mokuba and allowed him a few minutes like this, hoping that he would eventually fall asleep.

After several minutes had passed, Kaiba found himself observing his little blue chair in the corner, the tightly shut closet door, the old, dusty, light blue curtains on the window, and the gallery of bright pictures hanging up on the wall directly across from Mokuba's bed. His gaze zeroed in on those. He didn't remember being present for more than three-fourths of them, but most of the photos were of him doing all kinds of different things. They ranged in age from their time at the orphanage all the way up to a few weeks ago when Mokuba had launched a surprise attack on him when he came into his home office one day after a meeting. He briefly wondered how Mokuba had gotten that one developed. He saw a few pictures of his brother with Yugi and his friends as well and wondered the same thing. He realized that no matter what he said to his brother, he was constantly in the office doing some sort of business or another and didn't have a lot of time to have fun with the ten-year old. But what was he supposed to do about that?

"Seto?" Mokuba asked sleepily a while later.

"Hm?"

"Promise me...that you'll always be around, ok? Can you promise?"

Kaiba paused for a moment, then lifted his brother off his shoulder and put him back to bed. Before he left the room, he turned back to meet Mokuba's sleepy gray gaze with his slanted blue one.

"I promise."


	2. When It All Comes Down To It

_**When Nightmares Are Just the Beginning…  
**__**CH:2  
When It All Comes Down To It**___

When Kaiba came downstairs to the kitchen the next morning, his coat slung casually over his arm, he found Mokuba sitting at the table wearing his official flight uniform, cheerfully devouring his cereal. The teenager raised an inquiring eyebrow at his brother and the younger grinned hugely in response before shoving a gigantic spoonful of food into his mouth.

"One...two...three...four..."

Kaiba was halfway to ten by the time Mokuba realized that the mouthful was too big. Sighing, the elder made his way across the kitchen to where his brother sat and pounded the younger's back.

"Ow!" Mokuba halfway protested as he coughed up soggy sugar flakes.

"Did it really look like you could swallow all of that whole?" Kaiba asked with brisk exasperation as he placed the blue and white plastic bowl in the sink. He turned back to face his brother as Mokuba shrugged and slid out of his chair.

"Er, maybe?"

Something in his voice told Kaiba that Mokuba was insinuating a rather premature goodbye.

"Where are you going?" He asked suspiciously.

"To the jet-hangar," the ten-year old answered cheerfully, spinning in a circle. "I want to practice."

"Already?" Kaiba cocked an eyebrow again, but this time it served a more concerned purpose than a questioning one. "You can't have forgotten what happened last time…" the brunet trailed off as his raven haired younger brother cast a miserable glance at the tiled floor. Kaiba sighed, his left hand idly rubbing the back of his head as he reconsidered. His gaze focused on the roof for a moment before he glanced back down and was caught off-guard by the intense puppy-dog eyes that Mokuba was suddenly staring at him with.

_i'Not the eyes again,'/i_ he groaned internally as he relented with "Alright, fine…"

"Yay!" his brother exclaimed, a huge smile lighting up his face.

"But you have to wait a few minutes." Kaiba instructed, not about to let Mokuba go alone. "I'll come too, because I need to test something."

Mokuba pouted for a moment but sat down on the doorstep and waited for his brother. He watched disinterestedly as Kaiba consumed some sort of worthless "breakfast item"-probably an energy bar-and took a couple sips of a beverage that Mokuba guessed was supposed to be coffee. Typical. That guy could starve for ten days and never have to eat real food.

After grabbing a few things from his office and stuffing a few more papers into his practically exploding briefcase-Kaiba made a mental note to take out all the junk later-he headed back to his little brother.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Mokuba asked as they made their way around the back of the building. Kaiba shrugged aimlessly, only halfway into the idle conversation.

"Fine." he lied. In truth, when he couldn't go back to sleep after Mokuba's nightmares he had started working on yet another business idea, but he wasn't about to tell his brother that. He didn't need Mokuba worrying about him right now- the kid should be worrying about himself.

"Even after...well, me too! Glad you could sleep." Mokuba forced another smile onto his face, then turned quickly on his heel and ran ahead, his arms held out like wings. Kaiba watched him go with slight amusement at his brother's boundless enthusiasm.

"Try not to touch anything when you get to the control room!" he called after him. He had plans in there, some of which had to do with Mokuba's new jet. His old one had been blown up in an accident that Mokuba had barely escaped alive from. Kaiba had ended up having a few nightmares himself about that in which things hadn't turned out so well; Mokuba's parachute hadn't worked and the communication systems had failed completely.

_i'…Speaking of dreams…'_/i Kaiba thought suddenly. i_'Mokuba's nightmares started a day after that accident. If I didn't know any better, I'd actually believe they were connected.'/i_

Kaiba shook his head in irritation as he walked on, annoyed with the lack of realistic logic in his thought process.

i_'Looks like that nonsense that Yugi Moto and his cheesy friends always spill is rubbing off on me.'_/i

Mokuba was waiting impatiently for him in the control room when he arrived.

"Well, finally! I was about to call you!" He joked. "I thought you'd gotten lost!"

Kaiba ignored the statement and started setting up the computer system, logging on with complicated passwords and voice-activated command sequences. Mokuba watched with growing curiosity before finally saying, "Why all the security? It hasn't stopped hackers in the past."

"Not every hacker in the world is a multi-millionaire," Kaiba replied smoothly. "Some are still required to use traditional methods, and besides, it's a uniform system that would take too much time and money to dismember and replace."

Mokuba rolled his eyes cheerfully at his brother.

"Too much money? Seto, you have all the money in the world!" he said."Though maybe not the time. You're busy with work a lot."

The child walked to the door of the control room, pausing before he turned the knob.

"Make sure you watch me, ok? You need to give me pointers!" He said, then skipped out towards the hangar.

Kaiba watched him go before leaning down to retrieve the headset from under the desk-the brothers hadn't been to the hangar or the control room since the jet incident, and in a panic Kaiba had flung the device away-and set up the comm system. He was bringing up the new business plans when his brother's sing-song voice rang deafeningly over the intercom.

"Seto? Hi Seto, can you hear me?"

Kaiba grimaced and adjusted the volume.

"Yes, I can hear you just fine preparing for takeoff?"

"Er, sort of. It's a small jet, so I can just fly it out of the hangar with out a problem."

Kaiba shifted uncomfortably at that statement and brought up the jet's video feed. Mokuba was sitting strapped up in the cockpit, suddenly looking older and more like a boy going on eleven-like he was supposed to be- instead of six.

"Are you absolutely positive?"

"Yup. I'll see you in a bit Seto! Don't forget to help me out!"

He glanced up at the video screen and provided Kaiba with a confident grin and a thumb-up.

...

Everything was running smoothly. Mokuba was handling the jet perfectly, and Kaiba could work on his own things. He was just starting to relax and was really finishing a lot of work when a shrill gasp emitted from the intercom.

"Mokuba?"

"I...uh...Se-Seto?"

"What is it?"

Silence. Alarmed, Kaiba glanced at the video feed and was surprised to see that it was turned off. He didn't remember doing that. He flipped the switch on the control board and the screen went black.

_i'__Now__ it's off,'/i _he thought with a jolt_.i'Then that means...'/i_

He flipped the switch back screen was blank.

"What the-?" he muttered."Mokuba?"

More silence.

With a growl, Kaiba flipped the video switch to off again.

"Mokuba, this isn't funny! What is going on?"

A scream ripped through the intercom link, and Kaiba jerked his gaze up to see the jet waver drastically in flight.

"Mokuba!"

…

Mokuba couldn't see anymore. One second he was flying beautifully, and the next he didn't know where he was. He could feel himself still sitting in the jet, but the world around him was foggy and dark. His brother's voice was gone too. And then he heard the laughter. The chilling, crazed laughter that had been haunting Mokuba's dreams for nights on end. The laughter that ended the dreams...and the fog cleared to reveal a prone, still form. Mokuba's heart pounded painfully in his chest and he could feel the tears coming as he looked away.

_i'It's only a dream, it's only a dream...'/i_he insisted to how? He wasn't asleep anymore…unless it was all becoming a nightmare, his entire life, everything...

He looked back at the broken image of his dying brother and screamed.

…

"Mokuba! Mokuba, what's happening?" Kaiba shouted, growing frustrated as he still received received no answer from his brother. He turned on the video feed again and almost fell out of his chair. He saw...himself. The view was shadowy and foggy but he could clearly see himself doubled up and bleeding from a knife wound. He heard laughter-the "other" Marik's laughter-and then the video feed blanked out again. Kaiba stared in shock; were Mokuba's nightmares spreading into his waking world? He heard his brother shriek again, this time in real terror, and looked up. The jet was spiraling out of control.

…

"Seto!" Mokuba was he supposed to do? He didn't remember!

He heard his brother's voice over the intercom and decided that it was in his best interests to listen carefully.

"Pull up, but make sure that..."

Kaiba's supposed permanent calm helped filter reason through Mokuba's head, and soon the jet had been brought around and was headed for the runway. Kaiba kept talking, sensing that it was helping his brother focus on the task at hand and not his dreams.

"That's right, hold it steady and don't lose control...easy does it..."

The jet was cleared for landing and Mokuba tripped dazedly out of the cockpit, pale and wide-eyed.

"Mokuba!"

Kaiba strode forward and grabbed his brother roughly by his shoulders.

"What the heck was that?"

Mokuba shook his head mutely, staring uncomprehendingly at the elder. Then as the shock passed his expression changed to one of anguish and the child burst into tears as he sank down to a sitting position on the pavement.

"I'm sorry!" he sobbed, and his brother knelt beside him, confused.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah! I didn't m-mean to freak out, I ha-had no idea that this was going to hap-happen I s-swear, I'm s-so sorry Seto!" The younger buried his face in his hands with a wail.

"I don't understand…" the brunet was still trying to make sense of things. Although he wouldn't show it, he was pretty traumatized too after what just happened.

"…I made you let m-me do this…" Mokuba sniffled, rubbing his eyes lightly. "Even af-after what happened last time."

"Do you think that you're in trouble?" Kaiba asked in a slightly shocked tone as the sudden realization crashed down on him.

Mokuba paused, then nodded meekly.

"Well, you're not," his brother said, forcing gentleness into his voice. "You're not in trouble at all, alright? This was something completely beyond your control, so don't beat yourself up about it. Now stand up, and let's go back to the house. It's time for lunch anyway."

"Like you're going to eat anything," Mokuba said hollowly, but he lifted his head and offered Kaiba a watery elder returned it in a smaller, half-smile fashion, but it seemed to do the trick. His little brother rose to his feet and they walked side by side back home.

...

Several meters away, perched high up in a cement outcropping on the hangar, a figure clothed in gray for camoflauge watched the pair shifted slightly, and fingered the "off" switch on the recording segment of their camera goggles. The figure revealed a twisted, sharp-toothed grin.

"Operation Trauma: Phase Two is successful. Preparing to initiate Phase Three."

The switch was flicked and the figure departed in silence.


	3. Decisions and Deception

After Mokuba was set up in the kitchen with a meal that Kaiba deemed suitable-he realized now just how used Mokuba was to getting his own,if not entirely healthy,lunch-the elder went up to his office with a determination to work on the nightmare was getting out of control;not only was it disturbing,it was 's jet issue had proved that flawlessly.

He doubted that the internet would be of any service;it rarely was anyway,especially when it came to _his _,he sensed that-though he hated to admit it-the dream sequence was getting a bit suprenatural.

_"I don't do supernatural,"_he thought_."Everything's supposed to stay as normal as it can when card dueling is involved."_

The hardest part was that he had no idea where to was no evidence,no links,no hunches,no leads,and no now everything was going to have to be based on instinct and ability.

_"No matter who it is,whether or not it's a new enemy,they are going to be sorry."_

He glanced at his cell phone and was struck by a sudden,if not entirely welcome, if he got Yugi invloved in this?Him and his friends were always going on about strange,worthless things such as Yami sides and ancient spirits;why shouldn't he be able to help Kaiba with this issue?

In the next seconds,however,the thought was squashed would never-_ever_-ask Yugi for all,no matter what ,it was better to have a possible back-up plan,even if he wouldn't use it.

Mokuba dumped his empty plate in the trash and ventured upstairs to his room,brooding silently over the jet was beginning to feel frightened,but the last thing that he wanted to tell his brother was that he was felt that he would just be adding to the elder's burden so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

He flopped pathetically onto his bed,which was still unmade after his rush to get to the hangar that initial excitement felt like poison now.

As he sat there,he eventually found himself staring at the picture eyes were drawn specifically to a bright photograph of Yugi,Joey,Bakura,and had Yugi in a headlock,apparently unaware of exactly what he was doing in his moment of cheering someone looked surprised and a little exasperated,and was starting to try and escape Joey's had a hand on Joey's other shoulder and had the expression of a gently scolding was a little in the back,wearing a bewildered look on his whole scene wasn't exactly relaxed,but it was clearly friendly and at any moment Joey would let go of Yugi and all would return to normal.

Mokuba suddenly blinked in !Why hadn't he thought of that before?Yugi and his friends had always helped him out before,why shouldn't they now?

He stood to go find Kaiba and to tell him that he was going to Yugi's house-and then stopped,one hand extended halfway towards the was he thinking?His brother would never even let him leave the house,let alone go to Yugi's.

...Which meant that if he really thought that Yugi could help him,he would have to leave without his brother's it worth it?Would it only aggravate his brother?Of course it would.

Inside,Mokuba had a feeling that his brother would never notice if he went to Yugi's really fast and came right back within the was bound to be working on whatever he was working on for a long time and was likely to never leave his he did,he probably wouldn't waste any of that time checking up on Mokuba because his office was three floors below his little brother's ,though Mokuba really didn't want to cause the elder any problems,he wanted answers all,it wasn't like his brother really was aware of the extent of his shook his head as a flood of bloody memories threatened to take over again and eyed the door with a new confidence.

"I'll do it."he thought,walking out of his room.

Kaiba stared,frustrated,at the still-blank computer brain felt jammed,and every time he ran out of explanations he would land on the same nonsensical conclusion:talk to Yugi about it.

It was too early to,if ever,get Moto involved in this was a family issue,something that Kaiba wasn't willing to let go ,Yugi had helped both him and his brother more times that he cared to remember,but what was the point of having a rivalry if they were constantly saving each others skins?To answer him,his mind brought up all those memories of destiny speeches from Yugi and his supposed counterpart and all the stories of how friendship is what saved them and not dueling .

"Worthless,"Kaiba thought,leaning back in his chair."Pathetic,monotonous,and worthless."

He wasn't Yugi's friend at any favors had been done,it was strictly business,but Yugi didn't seem able to understand had learned long ago better than to attempt to explain all that to Yugi and his friends,instead deciding to stick to the cold-shoulder that didn't work he had a feeling that even if he asked for only a little help,everything would get out of what could be done?

As Mokuba passed cautiously through the kitchen,he paused at the blue notepad attached to the side of the that it would be an easy way to tell his brother where he'd gone-easier than trying to explain in person or over the plone-he tore off a sheet and grabbed a pen.

_"One thing they never say about brainstorming is that it always leads to migranes,"_Kaiba thought irritatedly as he paced around his almost wished that he'd eaten some lunch,but he'd needed to get to work and just really wished that he could think straight.

Mokuba lifted the pen off the blue sheet of paper and checked over his words one more last thing that he wanted was for there to be any ridiculous spelling mistakes.

_'Seto,_

_I'll be at Yugi's house if you need me.I just want to make sure of a few things._

_-Mokuba.'_

It was short,no preamble,no like his brother preferred.

He set the paper on the table and walked out the front door.


	4. And the Secret Is Out

Mokuba raised his hand,then lowered it and put it back on his breathing was heavy and his heart was pounding;he figured that he should never run all the way to the cardshop again if he wanted to live longer,especially with the dreams keeping him up at was flat-out exhausted.

He raised his hand again and knocked the door really hoped that Yugi was the contrary,he was rather relieved to see that Yugi's grandpa wasn't out sweeping like on,how clean can the front sidewalk get for God's sake?But all exasperation aside,he just didn't want to have to explain his situation to more people than was really necessary.

"Door,'s at the door."Yami's voice pulled Yugi out of his concentration.

Yugi sighed and set his deck down on the cashier desk.

"Hold up a second Joey,I'll be right back."

"Yeah,okay.I need a minute to formulate my ultimate defeat-Yugi-in-a-duel plan anyway.I might actually win this time."Joey almost looked manic as he shuffled through his cards,searching for a way to take out Yugi's present monster.

Mokuba was on the verge of knocking again when the door swung open to reveal Yugi.

" brings you here?Is everything alright with Kaiba?"Yugi was remembering the last time that Mokuba had come around,which had been to enlist Yugi's help in bringing Kaiba back from an alternate reality nightmare.

"No,nothing like last I come in?Seto's fine,but I need your help with...something that's been happening."

"Uh...sure,"Yugi stepped aside and Mokuba entered the house.

"Hey Mokuba!"Joey called from his seat on the barstool that he'd dragged up next to the checkout of his and Yugi's decks were spread out on the countertop.

"Uh,were you two practicing for real duels?"

"No,no,not really,"Yugi said,sitting back down."Joey was still working on his master strategy anyway."

"Yeah,and it was just startin' to come to..."Joey trailed off as Yugi shot him a look.

"Where's your grandpa?"

"Um..."Yugi looked at a loss for a split second."He went out...somewhere..."

"Yeah,he went to a convention or guys unite or what did you wanna talk about?"Joey shot Joey a second look but his friend had tactfully returned to his cards.

"Something's been happening lately and I need your help in understanding it.I've been having nightmares all the time now."

"Is that all?"Joey asked,not yet grasping the gravity of the situation.

"Wait...have they been sequential?Like,have they been happening over and over again,the same dream?"Yugi asked truth,Yami had asked the same question but it was just that Yugi had been the one to voice it aloud.

Mokuba sat down on the tiled floor,staring hard at the small cracks.

"Actually...that's exactly what's been happening."

"Alright,that's it.I'm taking a break or something.A break or an asprin,whichever comes first."This was probably the most reasonable thought to enter Kaiba's mind in the last 10 minutes."Anything but staring at this computer screen."

As he started down the stairs he figured that he should check on though he knew that Mokuba was done with his lunch he went ahead and checked the kitchen just in case his brother had decided to get an extra "snack".Something extra that he wasn't really supposed to be eating extra like cookies.

However,Mokuba wasn't there so the elder Kaiba went ahead back upstairs to the younger's room...which was also was a little unnatural,not to mention bed wasn't even made,though that was pretty never really bothered with things like that.

As he passed through the kitchen again to go check the garage,he noticed a bright blue sheet of paper resting on the remembered Mokuba picking this particular shade for memos because it stood out and was difficult to miss.

Kaiba removed the paper from it's location and immediately recognized the familiar,shaky scrawl of a ten-year old trying to write the moment of mild amusement passed and his eyes narrowed as he read the letter,irritated disbelief clear in his expression.

"...And that's what's been going on.I don't know if my nightmares mean anything or if they're just some freaky coincidence,but I really don't like them."Mokuba's gaze left the floor for the first time as he looked up at Yugi and Joey...they were both staring at him."What?"

"This is kinda surreal,"Joey commented,setting his deck on the 'd been shuffling through it absentmindedly during the entire story."I mean,nightmares suck,no matta what,but havin' the same one for eight nights?That's just gettin' has gotta be more than some bad food."

Yugi rubbed his arms against a chill stealing through him.

"What do you think?"

"I think that this is more than a child's runaway is serious sounding."

"Do you have anything you'd like to tell him?"

Yugi looked like he was slowly contemplating what to say to Mokuba.

"I don't think...that the nightmares...mean anything, I do think...is that someone is probably causing them,and no...I don't know why for that matter."he said.

"Uh,that's kinda sick ain't it?"Joey looked mildly appalled."Kids shouldn't be terrified like I can think of is Serenity..."he trailed off for a moment,lost in his own thoughts."How's Kaiba taking this development?"

"Not too well,"Mokuba replied,hearing his brother's reply to Joey's recent statement in his head:"A four syllable word,Wheeler?I'm impressed."

It's not a good thing to be distracted while driving,but Kaiba was very out of it as he drove down a back street towards Yugi's was trying to keep the angriest thoughts out of his head;it wasn't like Mokuba had disobeyed 'd never said no,but then again,Mokuba had never even because his little brother had known that he would decline.

"I can't blame him for wanting answers,but there are better places to find them."he thought irritatedly.

...  
"Is that his car?"

"It's gotta be,no one else would drive something expensive like time you arrogant idiot,waste your money on something a little more conservative."

"Who needs a license plate number when you cruise in something like that?"

"Come on girls,let's get 've got a boy to beat."

Kaiba heard the engines before he saw the ostentatious revving was the first thing that he heard,then screeching the rear view mirror he saw three of them;three females gunning down the road after him on motorcycles.

"What the hell,"he thought with aggravation and stopped the trio kept going and swerved around to form a semi-circle in front of his car,like a human blockade against his path.

"Seto Kaiba?"the female in front said,adjusting her light purple helmet.

"What?"he got out of the car and glared,highly annoyed."Am I the first person to have their time wasted by you?"

"Oh,like,trust me,your time isn't going to be wasted here."The girl in red assured him in an irritating prep voice."In fact,you might want to like,pay attention a little bit,if you can handle that."

",I have better things to do."he said,starting to get back in his car.

"Excuse me for my insolence,but you aren't going anywhere my misguided friend."the girl in violet retorted,and she motioned to the girl in a beat of hesitance,she pressed something on the front of her motorcycle and a shield wall erupted around the four of them."Looks like you're a little stuck,Kaiba."

"What do you want?"he snapped with impatience.

"Why,we just want to inform you a bit about your dear brother's condition!I would think that that would be enough to keep your lingering attention."


	5. Phase Three

"What are you talking about?"

Kaiba's default brisk-get-on-with-it response was just as unfailing as ever,but inside something turned out the lights and called it a day. He fervently hoped-or something similar to hoping,seeing as that wasn't in his nature-that this something wasn't his impassive demeanor because if that went,the rest of his sanity would follow without hesitance.

"Are you deaf,maybe? I hear that blue-eyed cats are sometimes deaf,but I never thought it pertained to blue-eyed boys as well." The girl in light blue sneered as she pulled her helmet off. Right away Kaiba could tell that she was for sure the angriest of the three from the hard slants of her eyes. They were blue,like his,so he didn't understand how she could afford to throw stones when it came to eye color. Not that he necessarily cared in any way.

"I heard you perfectly." he said slowly. "I was just doubting that you could possibly understand precisely what has been happening with my brother."

"Oh we,like,understand perfectly honey. Even more than,like,you probably." The girl in red replied,also removing her helmet. "FYI,I'm Ana."

'Do I care?' Kaiba thought as he said "Does it really matter? It's not like I'm going to waste my time in your presence ever again,anyway."

"Trust me...you're going to see us again." The teen in front said softly,finally lifting her helmet off her head. Her eyes were a startlingly light shade of creamy brown and they gave her a slight edge of strange intensity.

"Right,I'm tells me I'll have far more important things to deal with than a gang of wannabe punk bikers." He replied stiffly." But I recommend that you spit out whatever you need to say now so we can all move on with our lives."

"There's no such thing as a meeting without decent introductions." The girl in purple reprimanded in an almost condescending fashion. "I'm know Ana now,and the one in blue is Shaia."

"Yeah,so-"Ana started,but Temla cut her off.

"Hush."

'So Temla's obviously in control.' Kaiba thought when Ana immediately fell silent without even a look of protest.

"Like I said before," Kaiba spoke up. "I don't have time for this."

"You're going to hear this whether you think you need to or 're not leaving if you know what's good for you and what's left of your family." Temla practically snarled.

"Are you threatening me,you little brat?" Kaiba spat disdainfully.

"Who are you calling a brat,you tightass?" Shaia snapped."We know more about this than you could ever hope to!"

"Just,like,tell him the drop-line."Ana encouraged Temla."Anything to,like,get him to shut up."

"Fine." Temla agreed,turning to face Kaiba completely. "If you're not careful,we may have to take out more people than intended. So don't mess up too bad,and maybe you'll live through this."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means,you idiot," Shaia said, "that if you try to fight this,your brother isn't going to be the only target."

...

"Hey Mokuba,what's your brother doing?" Yugi asked.

"Probably still working or something like that," the younger Kaiba replied."This nightmare thing is stressing him out. It's hard to make the whole mess seem like it isn't a problem."

'Actually...' Yami said,his voice slightly tense.

'What now?'

'I'm pretty sure...that Kaiba is in trouble right now. Of some sort.'

...

For a moment everything blurred slightly and Kaiba almost collapsed.

"What...did you just say?" His voice stayed the same as it had been before but inside he could feel his anxiety level beginning to rise. Ana and Shaia started laughing hysterically as he spoke-simply because they had noticed a slight personality defect-leaning on each other for support. Temla kept some basic level of cool,but the corner of her mouth quirked up in a smirk.

"Yeah,you heard me." She said.

"And who's entirely psychotic idea was this?" It was funny how his voice sounded so calm,when usually a similar sentence would've been communicated by screaming.

"My bosses. They came up with the entire plan."

"And who are they exactly?" Kaiba asked,not entirely expecting an answer.

"I can't spill the beans on everything just yet," Temla scolded. By now all three girls were clearly enjoying themselves and Kaiba knew the only things keeping him stuck here was the mention of his little brother and the blockage shield that prevented any of them from passing. But he was sick of being toyed with and was tempted to start beating some sense into the three giggling teenagers. Who were they exactly to say that they knew about everything that had been happening in the last week and a half?

...

"You mean Seto's in trouble?" Mokuba demanded,his eyes wide.

"It's a possibility..."

"Well I have to find him then!"

"Uh-uh." Joey said."We're gonna do this last thing we need is for you to go off on your own and get kidnapped or somethin'."

"You mean you'll take me to find my brother?"

"I suppose we'll have to..."Joey sighed,standing."We're walkin',mind you,and probably taking that back road..."

"That's a good idea."Yugi agreed,standing."Let's go.

...

"Now,I'm sure you have some sort of-" Shaia was cut off by a buzzing noise. Both her and Ana glanced at Temla,who had pulled out some sort of phone-like device.

"Oops." She said a tad too cheerfully. "Master calls.I suppose we'll see you later."

"Aw,I was just starting to have fun!" Ana whined as she placed her helmet on her head and swung herself up onto her motorcycle.

"Who called?" Shaia asked Temla.

"Zaya," the pink-haired teen answered casually,then put a finger to her lips with mock surprise. "Whoops,wasn't supposed to spill that yet,but...I suppose you deserve it,for putting up with us."

She looked at Kaiba for the first time in the last few minutes.

"Hope you caught that. See ya later,Seto!"

The shield was brought down and the three girls peeled off,engines roaring and exhaust fumes spraying about.

Kaiba stood there for an extra thirty seconds,then got back into his car.

'That was utterly pointless.' he thought with an irritation that was starting to become pretty common with him. 'What a bunch of silly teenagers.'

Further up the road he noticed Yugi,Joey,and Mokuba coming the opposite direction. He slowed to a stop beside them and rolled the window down.

"Seto!"

"In the car,Mokuba." the elder Kaiba said briskly,and his brother obeyed without hesitance.

"Thanks guys," Mokuba said,then opened the door on the other side and got in.

Kaiba didn't even look at Joey and Yugi as he backed up,turned the car around,and started back up the way he had come.

"Do ya think he's gonna let Mokuba off easy for this?" Joey asked,shoving his hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean?"

"Well,Kaiba's not gonna be all that happy with him for leaving without telling him or whatever. I mean,Mokuba did what any other scared little kid would do. He went and got help."

"I get it..."

'I sure don't.' Yami said to Yugi.

'What's so tough to grasp about it?'

'The whole purpose of it. This isn't the first time Kaiba's been targeted. I can only wonder what the objective is.'

'True,' Yugi admitted. 'And Mokuba hasn't been used like this he's just kidnapped by some thug or another.'

'I almost prefer the kidnapping,' Yami's voice was heavy.

'Why?'

'At least that would make more sense than all of this.'

...

"So how'd it go,girls?"

"Not bad,surprisingly. He behaved a little better than anticipated. Did your plan end up working out?"

"I'm all over it,Temla." the mysterious speaker held up a school uniform."This ought to get me where I'm needed,don't you think?"

"Nice. And the tracker chips?"

The mysterious speaker glanced at the screen where a blue-white dot blinked on and off on it's journey back to KaibaCorp.

"One step ahead of you."


	6. Dynamic Assistance

"Who are you?Where am I?"Mokuba's voice was hollow and echoing in the cloudy was staring at the small,red-haired boy in front of him who was probably about seven or eight.

Mokuba had no idea where he was or what was happening,but he knew that he wasn't awake.

"You're Mokuba?"the kid's voice was hollow as well,but whimsical and child-like at the same time.

"How do you know that?"Mokuba's attitude was now based on how he had seen Kaiba act when dealing with Yugi.

"How do we know anything,really?"the child asked vaguely,his gray eyes paused for a moment,then started humming what sounded like a lullaby.

What Mokuba did know was that he was obviously kid spoke way too strangely to be real,so that left two options:the kid was either truly a figment of his imagination,or the kid was dead.

"What is this?Can you at least answer me that?"the younger Kaiba mystery kid stopped humming and looked at Mokuba full in the face,his expression suddenly demonstrating something like pain.

"He reminds me of someone,"Mokuba realized suddenly."Someone that I haven't seen in a long time..."

"You are dreaming,"the child admitted."I'm real at least,I was real.I'm not alive anymore,and only exist through other's dreams."

"Oh..."Mokuba was beginning to feel a little was a lot to take in at 12:10 at night."Why are you here?"

The child shifted,pulling on his reddish sweater-sleeve.

"Huh...I guess it's because of your nightmares."

Now Mokuba was really paying attention and all dizziness evaporated.

"What?Do you know who's doing it?Do you know how to stop it?"

"No...but I can tell you that things are about to get a lot harder for you and your times like these,it's important to help in any way you can...and...I guess there's no other way to say this...don't lose faith."The child's head tilted down,his fluffy red hair masking his eyes.

"Whaaaaa?"Mokuba felt dizzy all over ,"Wait,what do you mean?Faith?What?"

The mystery kid opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a piercing explosion came from directly in front of Mokuba,blasting away the child and the scene in paper-like there was nothing but inky blackness,that at times seemed solid,then gaseous,then went from a liquid to a solid in one more breath.

"Mokuba!"

Mokuba started and looked around as someone called his was nobody there in the darkness with him.

"Hello?"The younger Kaiba called nervously,afraid of penetrating the silence."Is there...is anyone there?"

He was vaguely aware of a ringing sound,a rather familiar ringing sound...slowly it grew louder,till it seemed like there was a foghorn right next to his there were more voices now,all overlapping into some senseless ,of course,that one awfully familiar voice that was still calling his name...

"Mokuba!Mokuba wake up!"Kaiba's voice became real,and the child felt a hand on his shoulder,shaking him."Mokuba!"

"Seto?What is-?"Mokuba realized what was happening as he heard the alarms ringing through the house."What the?"

"Someone tripped the alarms,"Kaiba said roughly,clearly tired and obviously irritated with the entire situation."I need you to go downstairs and check the lower level systems,okay?Stay in the back though."

"Sure Seto,"Mokuba yawned,and the elder left the room.

Mokuba wandered downstairs to check the monitors,still yawning and gradually growing annoyed with the constant trudged into the living room,-and froze,staring at a dark figure crouched on one of the higher windowsills.

The younger Kaiba stumbled back and tripped on the end of the managed to stay standing,but he'd blown his how the stranger/thief had heard him over the alarms was a mystery,but they sprang from the sill and landed lightly on their feet.

They were concealed by solid black clothing that seemed to shimmer slightly,like a mirage,and it gave a dizzying short pink hair was the only possible clue to their identity,as their eyes were covered up by goggles of some sort.

"Night-night sweetie,"They hissed,and then Mokuba felt something stab his first he couldn't comprehend it,but then the darkness clouded his vision and he blacked out.

...

Kaiba kneaded his forehead,feeling a migraine coming alarms weren't helping.

'Why must I put up with this?'he complained internally.'This is breaks into a house at 12:17 at night?'

Then,

'Wow,I really must be 's a logical failure to break in at any other time except for in the middle of the night.'

The computer was still loading it was tired ,or it had been messed with just a a lot.

'I am really going to have to re-install that defense software.'

...

Someone stepped silently down the halls,their clothing rippling curiously in dim long,glossy,violet-black hair was tucked into the back of their shirt to prevent it from hindering them.

Ahead they spotted a camera,facing the other about two seconds the camera was dead,the lens broken and the battery shot.

The stranger moved on,undetected.

"Zaya?Zaya,I've been spotted."someone spoke into the stranger's headset.

"By whom?"the stranger asked sharply.

"The kid,but I knocked him ,now our schedule's tighter than ever."

"Head out,Temla."Zaya,the stranger,answered briefly."I'll just be a minute."

...

The computer had finally warmed up and wasn't showing anything was strange,but it had to be messing was no way that anyone,or even anything,if it came to that,could sneak into the building undetected.

'It has to be a glitch.'Kaiba thought for the hundredth time.'That's the only reasonable explanation.I've been careless and haven't spent enough time on the system.'

Truly though,these thoughts were almost like a hopeful reassurance to the last thing he needed was for his security system to have ,un-fixable .

'This is shit.'the thought wasn't very sophisticated,but then again,there was nothing sophisticated about being up at half past midnight.

...

Zaya hesitated outside the door,trying to collect she was on a schedule and had to get her job done,but she didn't want to hurt ,that came with the was supposed to do everything in her power to get the mission done,and if she had to employ her ten years worth of intense combat training then she sure as hell had better employ all ten years worth of intense combat training!

She pulled the gear out of her belt-a viral laptop memory card and a handful of semi tier gas smoke pellets-and in one fluid move kicked the door down and threw the capsules to the ground,where they exploded into black power switched her goggles to the heat sensor app and crept in under the cover of the blackness.

...

Kaiba's night had just gone from bad to worse to downright terrible in the course of the last fifteen the computer had decided that now was a great time to have pop-up problems-something that would REALLY have to be fixed before he went utterly insane-then it showed a series of dead security cameras,all blacking out in a perfect row,one by one,which meant that someone was in the building,and now when it was finally working properly,the door flies off it's hinges and the room goes totally ,the uneventful life he led.

The teenager couldn't see a darned thing,not even the glowing computer screen,and he figured that there was some kind of gas in that smoke because he could scarcely was on the floor-he must've fallen out of his chair or something-and really wasn't intending to go anywhere at this point,seeing as it would do him absolutely no good whatsoever.

...

Zaya entered the room,downloaded the virus,and left under twenty sprinted down the halls,then paused before a window.

'Why the hell not.'she thought,and smashed the window with a loaded up onto the sill,she began the long descent down the building.

'Sorry Kaiba.'she thought,glancing around.'I hope you can stand what's coming to you.'

"Temla,I'm 's go."


	7. Coffee Break

"I don't like this place,"the redhead muttered to his friend as they navigated their way through bus traffic."It's too crowded."

His friend rolled his ice-blue eyes and proceeded to shoulder his way through a knot of people.

"Quit clogging up the walkway ya lumps!"he yelled in a carrying,Australian accented redhead glared down at him,silently telling him to keep his big-mouth comments to ,however,was not in his nature so it took a few more minutes of rude shouting from the shorter of the two before the pair managed to get out of the throng of people.

"That was hell,"the redhead gasped.

The other shrugged and ran a gloved hand through his spiky brown hair.

"Well,it's going to get way worse if we don't find a decent food place in the next five minutes."

The taller of the two shot him a look and headed down the wet sidewalk with the other trailing behind they passed by a brightly lit interior cafe,the redhead froze and stared inside with wide silvery-gray eyes.

"What is it?"his friend asked,pausing mid-step.

"Look,"the redhead hissed,and the brunette saw a two male teenagers talking at a table over some soda and some both wore high-collared,open blue jackets and matching blue was clearly taller than the other,with fluffy golden hair and brown shorter had large,violet-ish eyes and an outrageous hairstyle.

"Shit,"the brunette hissed."What do we do?"

"Keep walking,"his friend replied and proceeded to do just that while flipping up the collar on his jacket a other stared for a few extra moments before following with three strides for every one that his long-legged friend took.

"We still need to stop and eat something,"the brunette complained in harmony with his stomach."We haven't had a decent meal since last night."

"Leave it to you to think about your stomach,"the redhead sighed,but in truth he too was feeling the need to find a place to now they had Moto and Wheeler to contend would have to stay ahead of them,because the last time they had seen each other hadn't exactly been on good probably didn't have much of a quarrel with either of them,but Joey and the brunette hadn't exactly been having a male bonding session in their near death redhead then shuddered at a new thought;if Yugi was here,Kaiba couldn't be too far .

...

_"Did you see that?"_Yami's voice interrupted Yugi's conversation with sighed and held up a finger so he could hear Yami.

**"What?"**

_"I asked you if you saw that._

**"Well,I didn' did you see?"**

_"I'm pretty sure I just saw those two Doma kids pass by that window know,uh,Valon and Alister?"_

**_"What?"_**

_"Yeah,they saw us and high-tailed it out of here,Valon practically skipping to keep up because Alister was going so fast."_

...

"That place looks relatively harmless,"the brunette said,pointing to a small coffee-shop.

"Sure,that works,"the redhead said tiredly and followed his friend inside.

Two of the ceiling lights were burned out,giving the room a dim look,but it was warm and there were a few people inside enjoying late-night caffeine and brunette went straight up to the counter to get something while his friend slid into a booth at the back of the room.

"Hey,are you new around here?"an accented voice asked,and the redhead turned to face a young,white-haired teen.

"Er, are you?"

"I'm Ryou ?"

"Uh,Alister."he immediately kicked himself for saying his name,but Bakura only smiled widely at him,then pointed to the brunette.

"He a friend of yours?"

"Yeah,that's Valon."

"What about me?"Valon asked as he came over and dumped a few sodas and some chips and cookies on the rolled his eyes and popped the top off of a tilted his head to the side as Valon spoke,regarding him.

"You Australian?"he asked in his British accent.

Valon shrugged as he tore open a bag of chocolate-chip cookies.

"More or less,I British,whitey?"

Alister glared at Valon,but Bakura shrugged.

"More or less,I suppose,"he replied,copying Valon in his generic response.

He took a sip from his drink,then watched as Valon attempted to open a soda.

''Here,let me-"

PPPFFFSSS!

Soda sprayed across the booth and drenched Alister's stared at it,then looked back at Valon with a pissed off look on his face.

"Er...sorry?"

"Everywhere you go,you manage to make a mess,"Alister hissed,grabbing a few napkins while Bakura smothered his laughter.

Valon managed to look sheepish for about three seconds before joining Bakura in the little laughing crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat,waiting for the immaturity to pass.

"Do you happen to know where Seto Kaiba is?"Alister inquired as soon as Bakura could breathe question had been nagging at him ever since they'd seen Yugi and Joey in the cafe.

Bakura shrugged,swirling his drink absentmindedly.

"Probably somewhere nearby,unless he's left on some sort of business KaibaCorp building isn't too far from here,you actually,the word around is that he's been bloody busy lately,though nobody knows why."

"Oh."

_"Oh crap,"_he thought,instantly feeling a sense of course,if he really thought about it,Kaiba probably wouldn't bother noticing him or ,he probably couldn't recognize them if he looked like two scruffy,hungry,backpack-toting teenagers who had been living on the streets for at least a few 's hair had grown out a little,and he had traded the trenchcoat look for a gray T-shirt and ripped black jacket,which was some kind of cheap leather,was torn at the elbows and just a bit too had long since hidden his goggles and metal shoulder-pads and opted for some paint-spattered black T-shirt along with a pair of baggy red sweatpants that really didn't didn't bother with a jacket.

Besides that,they had recently gotten out of a street-fight a few cities down and still sported the marks,Valon contending with a black eye and Alister with a knife slice down the side of his face.

Valon stuffed the unopened bags into the empty front pocket of his dark brown backpack,employing a few choice cuss-words when the zipper got audience only heard "Worthless God-forsaken piece of crap",but that was enough for Alister.

"Well,it was nice meeting you Bakura,"he said just a bit too loudly,as so to drown out his comrades not-so-positive shouldered his own backpack as Valon stood with his,and with a little wave they departed from the building.

...

"Ya know what I wish?"Joey asked Yugi as they were walking back home.

"What?"

"I wish that tournament would hurry up and get here.I've been so bored lately,just sittin' around and doin' nothin'.Did ya know that I actually had time to finish my science project the otha day?"

"Seriously?Maybe you should apply for a job or something..."Yugi trailed off,staring up the street.

Joey followed his gaze,his expression turning incredulous as he realized who they were seeing.

"Is that Valon and Alister?"he hissed."It's gotta be,I'd recognize Valon in a crowd of brunettes anywhere."

"I vote that we find out exactly what they're doing here."Yami said.

...

"Alister?"

"Yeah Valon?"

"Don't look now,but I think that's Moto and Wheeler behind us."

"What!"

"Oops,they spotted -hey wait up!"Valon yelled,tearing off after his high-tailing friend.

...

"I do believe they saw us."Yami said.

"Oh really?Did that just occur to you that-JOEY!"Yugi shouted after his had taken off after the fleeing fugitives at a breakneck pace,already catching up to Valon.

"Shi-"Valon was cut off as he collided with the pavement,doing his best to minimize injury with Joey's weight on him.

"Get the hell off of me you idiot!"he snapped,struggling out of Joey's was forced to duck as Joey punched,and responded without ever rising by ramming him in the stomach with his shoulder.

"Valon,let's move!Come on,we don't have time for this!"Alister yelled from a little further up the turned to face his friend and noticed a fast moving figure bearing down on him.

"Hey!Watch-!"Valon's warning was slammed short as Joey whacked him from behind with a two-handed hit the gravel hard,his vision blurring over was pulled roughly off the ground by someone,but was too dizzy to do anything but protest with a few weak cuss heard Alister cursing violently not too far away.

"Shut up and maybe we'll let you go!"Valon's handler snapped in a deep voice.

Alister tried once again to pull away from Joey,but this wasn't easy because his arm was twisted painfully behind his back and even a bit more movement might cause a also had him in a headlock.

"Do you want something?"he spat,making eye contact with Joey's friend.

"What are you doing here?"Yami demanded roughly,meeting Alister's angry silver gaze.

"We're just...passing...through..."Valon mumbled,trying to keep his head up.

"Riiiight...what about The Seal of Orichalcos?"

"That's long-dead,Wheeler,"Alister sighed,shifting his stance a little so his arm didn't snap right off."It's power was destroyed along with The Great were there,remember?If I remember,you do."

"Yeah,yeah...just checkin' to make sure."

"No... I said,we won't...be here for too long."Valon looked a little more alert now and was keeping up a steady strain against Yami's hold on him.

Joey glanced at the pair of fugitives,then at YamiYugi.

"What do you think?"

"I think they mean what they say and that it's a long way past midnight."Yami responded while releasing Valon,who stumbled forward a few eased away from Alister,who was rubbing his arm and looking just a tidbit rueful.

"Well then...sorry about that,and good luck to ya I suppose...in whatever you're tryin' to accom-!"Joey cut off his sentence with a surprised shout as a pair of motorcycles roared down the road straight at was shoved roughly to the side by someone,and Alister simply jumped out of the way,rolling to minimize impact.

"What the hell!"Joey nearly shrieked as he watched the two bikers speed out of view.

"What was that?"Yugi demanded.

"Some crazy pair of motorcyclists."Yami replied,glancing at the smoking tire tracks."And do you know what?"

"What?"

"Whoever they were,I'm pretty sure that they just came from KaibaCorp."


	8. Operation Infiltrate

_**When Nightmares Are **__**Just the Beginning**__**...  
CH:8**_

"_**Operation Inflitrate"**_

The sudden silence throughout the building was almost as deafening as the alarms that had screeching shrilly throughout it only moments before. Needless to say, it was much more welcome, especially by its conscious inhabitant.

Up on one of the higher floors, that "conscious inhabitant" breathed a huge sigh of what could possibly be relief and fell limply over his laptop, his head resting on the room was still slightly darkened with leftover smoke from the tear gas pellet and the only thing illuminating it was the light from his computer.

_'Thank...the...' _Kaiba's thoughts were interrupted by a gigantic yawn that he didn't even bother to muffle. _'Woo...hoo...'_

..._'Am I drunk or what?' _he thought irritatedly about three delayed seconds later. _'I just have to...finish this up and…what the?'_

The previously blank screen had suddenly turned an eerie shade of silvery blue, if that was even possible. An intricate looking 'A' popped up in the middle of the screen with a loading circle around it.

"How the heck is this even happening?"He grumbled, and resorted to the age-old method for fixing dysfunctional technology, which basically meant he whacked the side of the screen."Why are my problems never over?"

"I resent that, Seto Kaiba." a snide voice said, and on instinct Kaiba almost hit the screen again. 

"What the?"

"In case you're wondering, no, this is not your computer talking. This isn't a glitch in your pathetically obvious system, it's more like an overlooked loophole."

The screen was still that same color and the 'A' was still there, but now Kaiba noticed that every time the increasingly annoying voice spoke, the 'A' flashed a slightly different color. This was pretty unnatural, seeing as Kaiba had no programs that were anything like this, so that meant that it had to be some sort of downloaded virus.

'_Which would better explain the intentions of those cat-burgalers or whatever they were.'_ The young duelist figured. _'Although I've never even heard of humans who can break into a place as high-maintenance as this.'_

"What do you want?" Kaiba believed it was best to cut to the chase at this point, knowing that he would have to tackle the virus and lack of proper security problems later.

"Brisk and as much of a jerk as ever, I see." The voice laughed, and it sounded as if the speaker was enjoying theirself."But I would've said the same thing. It seems we have at least a little bit in common."

"Just answer the damn question,"Kaiba growled.

The light of the screen seemed to grow in intensity, and if Kaiba hadn't been trained to stare blankly into a computer screen for fifteen hours straight he would've shielded his eyes a little.

"Honestly? Is that always how you treat your business partners or am I just special?" The stranger's tone wasn't irritated, despite his words. 

"This has nothing to do with that,"Kaiba snapped, his flimsy patience threatening to desert him."Are you failing to consider that two of your little thieves just broke into my company?" The last assumption wasn't really a shot in the dark for him, knowing the way his night was turning out. At this thought, he glanced quickly behind him at the window, as if to make sure that he wasn't being watched.

'_So I'm getting paranoid now.'_ He thought. _'Great.' _He paused in his thoughts as the speaker on the other end continued.

"Huh, you're smarter than I thought. How'd you know they worked for me?"The voice sounded mockingly disinterested.

"When a message from someone I've never even heard of comes through on my top security computer right after a pair of cat-burglars completely sabotage my systems, that seems to point some fairly certain fingers, you moron." Kaiba said with mild exasperation. "But that's completely beside the point. I'm not concerned with the past at this very moment, I'm concerned with what you want and why." 

"I'll just jump on it then. I want your company."

_'Like I haven't heard that one before.' _Kaiba thought.

"And before you jump to conclusions, I don't also want to steal any priceless artifacts, destroy your reputation as a duelist, or kill-I mean kidnap your little brother. It would just be convenient to have so much money at my disposal." The voice continued briskly.

There was a stunned beat of silence, seeing as Kaiba was still a little stuck on the voice's stumble over the 'kill-I mean kidnap your little brother' part. Now he was starting to understand the magnitude of the present situation.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

The voice seemed to read Kaiba's mind, because its next reply was layered over thick with fake sincerity. 

"Just a slip of the tongue, I can assure you.I've done murder jobs before, so this assignment is a little...tame for me, so to speak."

Kaiba's patience shot itself in the face and died on the spot.

"Listen up you irritating-"

"The name's Tarenshi, if you have to know." The now-named voice cut in, and it sounded as if the host was smirking.

"I don't care enough to remember this conversation even occurred!"Kaiba growled, his feelings beginning to pass from 'irritated' to, for lack of a better word, 'pissed off'."But that's not what I'm referring to."

"Then please get on with it, because I don't have all don't you have school tomorrow?"

Another pause ensued as Kaiba attempted to calm himself down a little. This was, unfortunately, a waste of time on his part, seeing as Tarenshi was clearly not willing to let the elder Kaiba blow off any steam in the next several minutes.

"You wouldn't want to blow your spotless record of attendance, would you? I know how important those kinds of things are to rich high school nerds like yourself."

"You don't sound much older than I do, you stupid brat." The young duelist hissed quickly in response, reminding himself to not punch his computer because that would just be a complete failure to utilize his time properly. "And if it _ever_ came to something as superficial as that, I'd rather be a 'nerd' than a _burnout_ like yourself."

"Ouch. If I actually was still in grade schoo-I mean high school like you, I would probably be offended. However, seeing as I'm free from the burdens of education as a recently-graduated 19-year old, I only find myself chuckling at your weak little insults."

Kaiba succeeded in that moment in averting his urge to sock the computer and instead jammed his fist into the edge of the table.

_'He's trying to get you all worked 's his mission, he's trying to irritate the living hell out of you, don't listen to him-'_Kaiba's verging-on-furious inner rant was cut off by an exaggerated sigh.

"Unlike you, I have a life to attend to. Systems to hack. People to kill. So if you don't mind, spill your guts will you, and then you can just forget all about me." Tarenshi was rattling off a list of things that Kaiba really didn't want to be associated with.

"Unfortunately, after the last few sentences that you just said, I don't think I'm going to forget about you anytime the heck are you, anyway?" Kaiba really couldn't resist tacking on the 'what' to that last sentence.

"Something of a psychopath, just like everyone else who hangs out over here at Afterlife."

"Afterlife? What is that, some sort of cult group?" Kaiba's voice contained a snicker.

"Cult group? Hm, that's a thought." Tarenshi sounded truly serious about this.

"Once again, just answer the damn question." In an instant, all of the young duelist's scorn dissipated as he immediately switched back to anger mode.

"Goodness, I'm so freaking scared." Tarenshi mocked. "No, Afterlife is not a cult group. That's all I can tell you without stepping outside of protocol though. So anyway though, what do you say about dueling me for your company two days from now?"

"Are you serious? Do you know who you're talking to?" Kaiba hadn't initially stopped to consider the possibility that Tarenshi had no idea of his capabilities, but with the last statement, he began to wonder if the rude and somewhat mysterious teenager had been living under a freaking _rock_ for the past couple years. Who in this city _didn't_ know about his prowess in dueling?

"I should be talking to Seto Kaiba, older brother to Mokuba Kaiba, CEO of the multi-million dollar company that is KaibaCorp, orchestrator of the Battle City Tournament, ex-regional champion, ex-chess addict, duel monsters addict, the guy who duels against himself in his own virtual reality, the guy who got trapped in his own virtual reality, owner of an absolutely ridiculous jet thing that's shaped like a freaking Blue Eyes White Dragon-"

"Okay, two things." Kaiba cut in, his voice razor sharp, immediately ditching the rock theory. "First of all, are you some sort of stalker? And second of all, are you finished insulting my pride yet? I sincerely doubt that you're much better than I am in most cases. From our conversation so far, I'm sensing a huge amount of unecessary ego coming from your side."

"I haven't even gotten to the part about your less-than dignified past!" Tarenshi whined, ignoring the ego stab. "But whatever, I don't think that you need to be reminded that you lived in an orphanage for a bit there."

There was a thump as Kaiba's forehead made contact with the desk where he sat, a low groan of exasperation in the back of his throat.

'_Why must I put up with this kind of shit constantly?'_ he moped internally, halfway tempted to shut his computer off completely and ignore the obnoxious messenger. Of course, he knew he couldn't do that, not only because it would be a sign of weakness but also because the bottom line matter that they were "discussing" was highly important.

"Are you still alive on that end?" Tarenshi called, blowing into the speaker, jerking Kaiba back into reality.

"Unfortunately." The brunette sighed. "But weren't we talking about a duel?"

"Oh, that's right. You and your one-track mind. But that's true, I was offering you a safe opportunity to duel me for your company."

"When?" Kaiba demanded at the same time he though _'Safe? Since when?'_

"Ah, a week from now?" Tarenshi sounded as if he couldn't care less.

"Fine. Where?"

"That's up to you, Kaiba-boy." The mysterious teen mocked.

"Don't call me that. One freak in the world is enough." The young duelist growled, fury creeping in. "I'm assuming you've crawled out of that hellhole of yours often enough to know where the KaibaCorp duel stadium is in this city, right?"

"You mean the huge dome thingamajigger in the middle of the city? Yeah, I know where that is."

"Then meet me there a week from now. Do you have anything else to say?" Kaiba more than half-hoped that this conversation from hell was finished so he could shut his laptop off and call it a night.

"Uhhh, nope, not really. You're going down though."

"Bring it." Kaiba said firmly, and Tarenshi laughed and signed off. The screen darkened again, the strange 'A' disappearing.

The young duelist breathed a huge sigh of relief, his head hitting the desk for the third time that night. For a moment, he suddenly felt very relaxed, although he was pretty sure that was due to the stress of dealing with obnoxious, ignorant people coupled with his exhaustion, not because he actually felt well. The computer screen was casting a gentle glow throughout the room, and the soft noises of the air conditioner were almost lullaby-like to the resting teenager.

'_Maybe I'll just sleep here for tonight,'_ Kaiba thought, not really against the idea at all. Still, something was nagging at him…

'_Oh wait, where's Mokuba?'_ the thought seemed to electrocute him, and he shot out of his chair, knocking it over. _'I sent him downstairs to check the lower monitors…'_

...

The young duelist wandered downstairs, occasionally calling out his brother's name to no answer. When he came out into the sitting room, he couldn't see much because the light was off. There was a weak light coming through the window from the streetlamps outside, but other than that, it was eerily dark and quiet.

"Mokuba?" the lack of response continued to unnerve Kaiba. "Mokuba…"

Reaching out blindly to his left, he flicked on a light-and exhaled sharply, like the breath had been knocked out of him.

His brother was slumped on the floor next to the couch, something tiny and thin sticking out of the side of his arm. His small shoulders were hunched, and they rose and fell slightly with each breath.

"Mokuba!" The elder crouched by the younger's side, noting with alarm that he as a growing feeling of trepidation, he reached over and pulled the thin object from Mokuba's arm. It was a tranquilizer dart.

'_What. The. __**Hell**__.' _He couldn't help but feel incredibly angry at this, and it only intensified his hate for the mysterious, faceless group known as Afterlife. He hated all of them, and they would all be sorry for screwing with his life like this-

No. That was bad. He was letting himself get carried away. He couldn't get too angry or frustrated, because then this prevented him from thinking straight.

"Mokuba," Kaiba repeated softly, shaking his brother's flannel-clad shoulder slightly. At the movement, the younger Kaiba shivered a little, then his eyes slowly opened. He blinked slowly, then rapidly a couple times, looking disoriented, and then he gasped and looked around wildly.

"They were down here, I saw them Seto! One of them was one the windowsill and…and…" he trailed off, the previous events slowly returning to his fogged mind. "How did they even get in here?"

"I don't know, but-"

"One of them saw me! I remember now! I…I…" Mokuba's eyes drifted in and out of focus and he slumped to the side a little.

"Mokuba?" Kaiba was getting to be a little more than frightened for his brother's condition at this point. "What's the matter?"

"I'm just a little dizzy," the younger mumbled, listlessly shaking his head and sitting up straight again. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course. Nothing happened up where I was." Kaiba found it amazing how such a flat-out lie could sound so real.

There was a pause as Kaiba shifted down to his knees and carefully put his arm around his brother's little shoulders, feeling a slight buzz of concern as he realized that the younger Kaiba was shivering.

"…Seto?"

"Yes?"

Silence met his unassuming, though slightly rigid reply, and the young duelist glanced quickly downward, catching Mokuba's gaze.

"Yes, Mokuba?" Kaiba repeated, making his voice come out softer this time.

"Seto, I'm scared," Mokuba said truthfully, no longer able to conceal his feelings. "Are you scared?"

'_Terrified.'_ He thought, but the elder Kaiba would never say that out loud. _'So lie again.'_

"No." he said quietly, and Mokuba nodded. The younger's expression was tight though, and tears were appearing in the corners of his silvery eyes.

"I wish I was more like you," he whimpered.

Kaiba reached over and rubbed his brother's back, trying to comfort him. He half-realized for the first time how irritating it was to rub flannel, seeing as it got very static-y with too much sliding contact.

"No, I don't think you do. But all the same, you need some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning. Maybe we can go to the park after school."

"_Really?"_ his little brother's bright silver eyes grew huge. "Do you mean it?"

"Well, yes I mean it, but you've got to finish with tonight first," Kaiba said kindly, making an effort to sound positive. He offered Mokuba a small smile, which the child returned on a much larger, more genuine scale.

"Thanks Seto." The younger said happily, then smothered a huge yawn behind his arm. Kaiba's smile widened slightly and he stood up from his crouched position.

"Come on. Let's get you to bed."

...

Tarenshi gave a dark chuckle as he shut the computer off, his malicious laughter echoing through the large chamber.

"What an idiot," he said casually to his friend, a tall blond teen sitting at the computer system to his right. "For someone so smart, he sure can be gullible, Larun."

"Ha. All the better for it then. It's always so much easier when the victims are stupid." The other teen's voice was deeper than Tarenshi's, so when it echoed, it had an eerie edge to it.

"Aah, but he's not the victim." Tarenshi smiled, running a gloved hand through his black hair. "Which means…"

"That we get to torture him. Awesome." Larun finished, his already thin slate-blue eyes narrowing into perfectly angled slits. "Can't wait."

The ominous statement hung in the air for a moment as both boys returned to their own reclusive thoughts for a few moments, their eyes subconsciously roaming around the room. It was a hard habit to squash, seeing as they'd been trained to stay on hyper-alert senses constantly, and they all had problems keeping themselves from analyzing every single interior, even the ones at their own base.

Which is why they were slightly surprised when someone else walked into the room without being detected.

"Myers. Scarset. Do you have a moment?" the use of last names signaled superiority.

Both teens whirled around to face their superior, who'd just entered the room only moments ago. The man had a thin, pale face and sharp, ice-blue eyes, and his shoulder-length jet-black hair barely shifted as he moved. His demeanor was utterly apathetic aside from the strong aura of power and authority that radiated from him.

"Of course sir." Tarenshi said honestly, all traces of attitude gone. "Where are Zaaya and Tem- oh. Hey girls."

Zaya and Temla stepped in silently, still wearing their dizzying uniforms from the break-in. Zaaya didn't say anything back to Tarenshi, just removed her helmet and sat quietly. Temla followed her leader's example, her face just as expressionless.

The dark-haired man who was in charge at the moment paced back and forth in front of the group. He paused, then stopped before Tarenshi. 

"So how'd it go?"

__  
"Nicely." Tarenshi said, grinning.

"Were either of you spotted?" This question was directed at Zaaya and Temla.

"No sir." Zaaya answered." Everything went according to plan."

"Good. Ketsu's gear worked well then, I assume."

"To perfection." Temla replied, glancing around for the member in question. The male teen, Katsuma Ketsu, was Afterlife's technology expert. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, where is Katsuma?"

"Headache." Larun answered quietly, and no other explanation was needed. Katsuma was constantly suffering from these terrible migraines that severely impaired him and caused him awful pain.

"I've allowed Ketsu to take the night off due to his afflictions. He should be fine by morning." The dark-haired man said briskly, then he looked back to Tarenshi. "I'm assuming that your correspondent believed you when you said you wanted his company, right?"

"He totally fell for it. He didn't doubt it for a second." Tarenshi said proudly.

"Good. Phase One has now been completed. Tomorrow, Phase Two of Operation Inifiltrate can commence. For tonight, you are all dismissed." The man's icy blue eyes gleamed momentarily in the darkness, and then he turned and left the room.


End file.
